


Try to Keep Up

by 8BagelWho0



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Psychic Abilities, Short, Trolls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 21:51:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8BagelWho0/pseuds/8BagelWho0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vriska and Tavros are adventuring through LOMAT, when something slightly unexpected occurs...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try to Keep Up

“Vriska, you’re going too fast…!” Tavros gasped, the low hanging vines and various vegetation of the jungle occasionally slapping him in the face as he rocketed after her.

“If you can’t keep up, you don’t deserve to be first mate!” Vriska yelled over the roar of her rather gaudy boots.

He slumped down in the wheelchair, attempting to angle his head so that branches wouldn’t keep hitting his horns. If he wasn’t careful, he could very well be knocked straight out of the vehicle and into the fire. Half literally and half metaphorically speaking.

“Uh…isn’t this treasure supposed to be around here?” he mumbled as he tried fitting one of his horns inside the car, tilting his head in an uncomfortable angle.

Vriska rolled her eye. “And if you can’t talk loudly enough, you don’t deserve to even be cabin boy!” she barked.

Tavros sighed. “I said, isn’t this treasure supposed to be around here?” he yelled half-heartedly.

“Why don’t you use your communing abilities and find out from whatever imps are fucking around here? Really, take some initiative, Pupa Pansy!”

Tavros scrunched up his face. His brain started to buzz as he searched out any nearby animals. Communing with imps wasn’t particularly enjoyable, but it was unfortunately necessary. And a bit of a shortcut. Vriska loved shortcuts. “Uh, there seems to be a lot of imps around, actually?” he said.

“What the hell, where are they?!” Vriska growled.

“I think they’re—”

And that’s when it happened. Before he could swerve out of the way, a huge tree branch with his name on it clocked Tavros in the face. As his think pan jiggled about in his head, he vaguely wondered why in the world someone would take the time to actually carve his name on a tree branch. And as he slipped into unconsciousness, he wondered why Vriska was yelling.

\--

The sounds of the jungle snaked their way through Tavros’s stupor, his mind sluggishly trying to make sense of why it seemed like he was lying on his back and why it seemed like sharp sticks were poking him. He hesitantly opened his eyes and saw only trees. Well, trees and at least six bright blue imp faces.

He sat up abruptly, causing the imps to back away for a moment, a few dropping the sticks they’d been wielding. The rocket car was lying on its side a few feet away. Tavros’s eyes widened as he caught sight of what was dangling from the trees about twenty feet in the air.

Vriska had been unceremoniously hung upside down, her limp body swaying slightly with the rough rope that connected her to a thick tree branch. Her rocket boots were gone and her glasses were askew. Not that they were being used at the moment. Vriska was out cold.

Oh, and there was a crowd of around eight hundred and eighty eight imps in every direction surrounding the two trolls.

Tavros shrunk back, his eyes searching desperately for someone, anyone who could help. He pushed at the ground, trying to scoot himself over to the rocket wheelchair. The imps seemed like they wanted to know what he was going to do next before they did anything. Tavros wouldn’t have minded knowing what he was going to do next too.

As he clumsily made his way over to the rocket, he glanced up at Vriska again. Something wasn’t right here. An ambush in the jungle? Seriously? Vriska was many things, but she certainly wasn’t taken by surprise so easily. “Is…is this a test?” Tavros called out tentatively. “V-vriska? Uh, you can wake up now, this isn’t very funny. This isn’t even very dangerous which I kind of appreciate, but can you stop it now?”

Vriska didn’t say anything.

Tavros started scooting more quickly, his hands starting to get scratched, his shorts tearing a little. The imps were starting to notice his helplessness.

One of them took a step towards him, its tentacles tightening menacingly around its weapon. Tavros froze. “Vriska, you should wake up now please? I don’t know if I can—”

The imp’s weapon smacked the troll across his face, his head turning so quickly that one of his horns whacked another imp off his feet. “Sorry…” he gasped as he wondered why he was even apologizing to an imp.

A few more imps started to advance towards him, some holding planks they had torn off of bridges, other brandishing oars and other nautical accoutrements. Tavros touched the brownish bruise on his cheek. “I…um, okay, this is happening, this is going to have to happen,” he muttered to himself. “ A thousand imps…okay…a thousand…Vriska you’d better be unconscious or…or I’m going to be really upset with you…”

One of the imps looked at another and shrugged.

Tavros put his fingers against his temples, closing his eyes and wincing in preparation for any attacks. His mind quieted down as the noise of his surroundings faded away. As he concentrated, he could just barely feel the hard japs in his side. He supposed his legs were being attacked as well. Of course, he couldn’t feel that at all.

A few hundred lights started to become clearer in his mind’s eye. He pushed his consciousness, and it hurtled towards these lights, its thin, fibrous tendrils connecting one to the other. Tavros gasped. Okay, a few hundred were under control. There were no more blows from his surroundings. A few hundred wasn’t so bad.

As Tavros searched, more and more small orbs of light came into view. And as he connected one to the other, all leading back to his own consciousness, his head began to ache. A bit of wetness trickled from his nose, and his breathing was coming in short, ragged gasps. He was seriously out of shape.

Finally, all eight hundred and eighty eight were under his control. Barely. He opened his eyes, smiling grimly, wiping away the blood that streaked from his nose. He turned and looked up at Vriska, still swaying from the rope. With a nudge, he sent a few imps up to untie her and carry her down to the ground. Tavros dragged himself over to where she was lying.

He looked down at her, his brow furrowed. “Uh, Vriska?” he whispered.

As he watched, the corner of her mouth twitched upward. He suddenly scooted away. “You…you were awake the whole time?!” he squeaked.

Vriska pushed herself up into a sitting position, adjusted her glasses, and smirked at Tavros. “You proved yourself, didn’t you? I was wondering how many beasts you could control at once. This was rather impressive. I’m impressed, Tavros! Aren’t you impressed with yourself?”

“I…I can’t believe you’d…”

“Oh really? You can’t believe I’d pull a trick like that? Come on, Pupa, you can’t be a grub forever. Now get in that rocket, we need to get going again!”

Tavros looked over at his rocket, which was now even farther away from him. “Can’t you just…”

“Help you?” Vriska asked incredulously, fetching her rocket boots out of her modus and pulling them on. “I just got through helping you! Wow, talk about being demanding!”

Tavros looked at the ground and sighed. “…okay,” he said softly.

Vriska paused, looking at him. “Well, I guess I could help a little,” she said reluctantly.

She marched over to the rocket, tipped it over, and nudged it over a few inches with her foot. “There. Now come on, Pupa, you can do it!”

Tavros stared at his legs. “You know what Vriska? Sometimes…sometimes you can be a real jerk…” he said quietly.

Vriska looked at him, her smile fading. Suddenly, he felt her hooking her arms underneath his own. “Fine, but this is a one time thing!” she said brusquely, dragging him along the ground towards his rocket.

As he settled into the vehicle again, he looked up at Vriska. “Thanks,” he said, smiling a little.

“Yeah, no, please don’t do that,” she grumbled. She kicked off the ground and raced ahead. 

She looked over her shoulder. “Try to keep up, will you?”

**Author's Note:**

> This was done for a donator to Alabamastuck's HS meetup fund!
> 
> Also: requests are open!!


End file.
